Honestly, I'm really not sure! Which isn't a very interesting answer 😭 I don't really analyse content because for me, there's so many "unknowns" that my brain can't compute so I just absorb content at face value like a sponge 🤭😂 I may know facts but I'm also totally lost at all times!

That being said, at the time I can't say I really noticed anything unusual I suppose because things always appear different in retrospect and we know a lot more about what was going on behind the scenes now than we could have imagined then. I didn't notice anyone thinking anything was off or unusual, particularly. It was a very strange era in general and honestly it was also chaos. Everyone was very caught up in being absolutely FURIOUS that superm was encroaching upon exo's activities and everything else just fell by the wayside. I cannot overstate how upset and angry people were it engulfed everything so nothing else really even occurred to me.

I am aware that chanbaek had that spat though and I get the feeling that Baekhyun did feel bad about it and I've always wondered why Cy chose to bring it up on Knowing Bros specifically. To me I kind of assumed that he brought it up because he knew it was blown out of proportion and he thought it would be funny but, again I do take things at face value. And in my mind it was always just an isolated incident. And Baekhyun- for all his emotional awareness and intelligence- cannot read a room to save his actual life and someone has to tell him! It just seemed like a little tiff that went wrong. As for the other members' reactions, I noticed them but idk I assumed it's because it was just a bit awkward really qhshshjk

I couldnt really connect it to anything else with any level of detail because I just dont know enough. Like I didnt see Exploration at the time other than daily fansite pictures of everyone in silly hats so I don't have the knowledge I don't think 🤭. I suppose it's different seeing a concert online and getting daily updates online. It's hard to piece anything together in real time.

And I've not really thought about it much more than that, honestly. I've seen all of the clips and I am aware of things like Jd and Cy getting closer at that time (I've been curious about why and how but it's one of those pesky unknowns that I could get tangled up in forever so I just didn't think about it lol) and Cy's emotional state at the time but I suppose I've never linked them all because there was so much else going on at the time. SO MUCH. 2019/2020 was very stressful on exoplanet 🥲 then again...when isn't it stressful? HECK I'm stressed right now!

That era sticks out to me the very most because Baekhyun was just not There at all. He wasn't himself, I saw him live around that time and he barely spoke which was unnerving and there's the Workman video where he's asleep on the floor in the background cause he was so exhausted like he didn't seem with it at all. And any weird vibes between him and anyone at that time, I've always attributed to that. Cy was having a hard time, so was Baekhyun, they've always been good at seeing through each other's layers upon layers masks and facades but maybe they just didn't know how to navigate a situation where they were both struggling. Baekhyun especially isn't good at being the person who's struggling, I don't think. I dunno!

This is probably not the most interesting response for which I can only apologise but I'm not good at this stuff ahshshjk

Chanbaek is a very odd pairing in general because it's not rooted in any kind of reality. No one is out there analysing their relationship as it actually exists and I don't personally possess the skills to do so ahshshkj. This is the first time ive ever seen any kind of in depth discussion about them at that time. The chanbaek side of fandom is like wading through a thick bog nothing out here is based in any kind of reality. I wish someone would create a dossier for me about every interaction theyve ever had I'd devour it! But alas!

Anyway I've said so much and also nothing 😂 sorry about that.

Hmmmmmmm let me consult my crystal ball. Well we got two announcements today and I unfortunately did not see them coming but IT'S FINE.

1) The stars are telling me that there may be a smaller release pre album. Maybe an ost? Maybe a single? Smth to lower us slowly into it. My prediction for this is February. Apropos of absolutely nothing.

2) Album announcement in March but not to be released until April. This is simply a vibe I have.

3) Teolaegi custody battle. When you start a new venture, not everything is easy. He needs to rescue his son and I don't think he'll wait around for that. I mean the kid is endorsing show horns. Who uses shoe horns? February. First order of business.

There may be more festival announcements, magazine stuff, YouTube content but I don't appear to have a mental channel for that information. Sorry about that.

Thank you for asking.

:000 I love this question!!!!! Yes I can! I can't put pictures or anything on here I don't think ? so I shall explain and then attach pictures in the thread underneath I think. Hope that's fine! ☺️ (excuse the lighting and also that the photos are taken on a blanket ahshsjk)

Okay so I call my room the Kpop Dungeon because that's what it is and I can be a teeny bit shady about exactly HOW MUCH I have in my collection because idk...it is a lot and I had to work pretty hard for a long time to get to this point of no return 🤭 I'll never count my albums.

So first I obvs love all my albums. I have some pretty cool things in my collection: some rarer ones like Pink Tape f(x) which is my fave gg album, some older shinee stuff, vinyl, drama ost albums. I also have a few dvds, stuff like First Box, Second Box and concert dvds. I have some films as well like Kung Fu Yoga and The Box (LOVE) but they're harder to get hold of in the UK. I have attached a photo below for your viewing pleasure.

Then I have my magazines. When I was a baby exol I always wanted the magazines more than anything else and idk why. I'm slowly working on obtaining the ones I want but they're not so easy to get hold of, especially older ones, and especially now that the shop i bought from from in town closed 😗. Some were lucky finds. That cbx one (attached in image below) was just randomly stored away brand new by someone who didn't know what it is, for example. I have another magazine on the way and I keep my eyes out for them all the time!

Then the third corner would be my trinket box. I like this especially because it's smth only I have as in it's my own littol box of treasures that I've gathered over time: concert tickets, banners, cupsleeve event stuff, little notes from fanartists, letters from fronds I've made over the years I've been in the fandom, little freebies from concerts, gifts from fronds in fandom, fanart, fansite prints just ANYTHING. I love going through this box it makes me soooo happy! I keep everything. I'd hope to add to it more by meeting amazing people and going to more places. One day I hope to need a second box!

An extension of the box would be The Wall which also has fanart on it and little freebies, as well as album inserts which I do blutack to things. Then my magnetic board. This moved with me when I went to uni and was quite handy because i could take it to every new student house and keep all the same things on there. I've added to it and taken things down over time but it's still going strong!

I could be here all day going through everything and I have some goodies that make me excited even though I own them and they're in my house 😂 but I do love this collection. I'm very protective over it.

1) I feel smug and wonder if I should start reading fortunes 🤔
2) AAAH excited! It feels like it hasn't quite sunk in. Especially because I think I'd left cbx as a happy nice thing we used to have that might not happen again. But it will!!!! And my brain is still processing it. I also feel a bit...trepidatious, naturally, because this is completely unknown territory and anything can happen. I see people saying "Well Suju did this" or "snsd did this" or "this happened with yixing" but the situation with cbx is nothing like anything we've ever seen before. It's totally uncharted territory (because it's exo and of course it is 🥲) but that's also exciting!! Exo are treading their own path and I can't wait to see what they do. The true cockraoches of kpop. Lovely, brave cockroaches.

Purely by mistake, really. I'd never heard of it in my life, didn't know anyone who liked it at all, no one at my school knew what it was either. Then one Saturday night I was home alone watching random YouTube videos on the TV and a kpop compilation came on, I watched it, and that was it.
From there I just watched more videos, slowly listened to as many groups as I could, then eventually started to watch variety shows and find out more about the idols themselves.

I used to stan a lot more groups than I do now -especially boy groups - which I suppose makes sense because I was getting a feel for kpop and what I liked the most. But as soon as I found exo, it was a no brainer that they'd be my ults to be honest. Every group id decided i liked before that fell by the wayside. And I got into exo the same way, just by watching music videos and I eventually came across them. Then I watched Showtime I think.

I didn't really have any interests at the time so I think it was just the right place right time. I didn't really plan to like kpop for this long because all my interests before that had only lasted a few months at a time, a year maximum, but kpop was different. I tried to get over it when I turned 18 but it didn't work so I'll stick around I suppose 😂

Fic tags? 🤔 hmm this is a boring answer but I only read slice of life stuff I'm not very adventurous. I looked at the tags in my ao3 bookmarks and that's the only pattern I'm seeing absbkj

I don't read fantasy or a/b/o or anyyyyyyything that isn't just real life people having big angsty feelings and falling in love. I suppose I like historical aus a lot but I'm not sure I'd say I come back to the "Period Typical Homophobia" tag over and over on PURPOSE 🥲 it just comes up a lot.

And I only really read non-idol aus. That's probably the most adventurous I get.

So yeah if "people living life and doing stuff" was a tag it would be that one 😋

I don't knooow! I'm so curious I could pop. I kind of assumed we'd have heard a bit more information by now it's all very mysterious 🤔 Baekhyun hasn't let anything slip really which is so unlike him it's unnerving me ahshshkj the past few months are some of the quietest he's ever been.

I guess Baekhyun will probably focus on releasing some music first considering it's been so long since he has. He says he's coming back with a new image but with him that could mean anything he talks in riddles. That solo would probably be in the spring time now and then I gather that he'll tour but not in very many places. There's an unofficial schedule out there but not many countries on it.

I'm most curious about the CBX situation tbh. Presuming they are all actually under the company now, I expect we'll get an official announcement about that soon (I was hoping this week but the year is young yet lol) then I suppose Minseok will release his solo under the company pretty soon as well. Not having an official announcement is eating me alive 😂 because without one it's hard to make guesses.

I don't have much more specific tbh. I wish I did 😂 I've been reading in between the lines of Baekhyun’s mysterious bubbles and lives for months 😭😭